Persons who wear eyeglasses often have difficulty in locating their glasses after not wearing them for any length of time. In any case, it is desirable to provide a readily accessible holder for placing or storing eyeglasses which will avoid loss or damage when the glasses are not in use. Characteristically, a pair of glasses are made up of a frame supported on the bridge of the nose to which right and left temple pieces are attached to extend along the side of the wearer's head to a point past the ears so that the cooperation between the support of the bridge of the nose and ears maintains the eyeglass frame in place with the lenses positioned directly in front of the eyes. It is therefore necessary that a suitable holder be adapted to this particular construction.
Although glass cases have been developed to encase the eyeglass frames, many persons do not elect to utilize such cases and instead, merely place their eyeglasses in some accessible location. The problem with this approach, however, is that one's eyeglasses may become misplaced or lost. Yet another problem results since the eyeglasses may be damaged if objects are placed on them or the glasses are knocked away from their location and fall and break. Further, when the glasses are placed in an unprotected location, they are subject to being scratched either by other items or even by the surface on which the eyeglasses are placed.
Several attempts in the past have been directed to providing an eyeglass holder which will provided a convenient location for placing a wearer's eyeglasses so as to protect them from damage in a convenient location. One such attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,997,270 to Farndon, issued Aug. 22, 1961, wherein a rack for spectacles is provided, which rack slidingly mounts onto a wall-mounted bracket and which provides a flat horizontal surface to support the lens frame with the temple pieces extending in a downward direction. A plurality of guard fingers retain the glasses in position and protect the lens surfaces.
Another attempt to provide a support holder for eyeglasses is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,348 to Dann, issued July 5, 1966. In this patent, a support bracket comprising a block formed of yieldable material is mounted to a wall and this block has a narrow neck portion which receives the nose pieces of an eyeglass frame with the temple pieces being in a folded configuration so that they cross above the narrow neck of the notched block.
Both of these devices, however, project a substantial distance from the wall and glasses placed thereon may be quite susceptible to being jarred or knocked off of their mounting support. There is therefore a need to provide a holder which is mountable in a vertical disposition to allow loose insertion of a portion of the glasses, such as the temple pieces, so that the glasses will be freely, yet securely suspended in a readily accessible location.
As should readily be appreciated, a substantially rigid support member or loop would have advantages in allowing free or loose insertion and removal of a portion of the eyeglasses. Even though prior mounts for eyeglasses have utilized elastic loops to secure eyeglass frames for storage or shipment, these loops do not provide the convenience in use as does a rigid support bracket, particularly when used in conjunction with the temple piece of the eyeglasses. Indeed, should the elastic loop be large in diameter, the temple piece might slip out of the loop because of the loop's flexibility. Should the loop be small so as to avoid slippage, it would present problems of insertion of the temple piece due to its reduced size. Also, the elastic band, if placed around the eyeglass frame and temples, could, if the restorative force were substantial, cause a gradual bending of the temple pieces out of proper adjustment. These disadvantages would be removed by providing a rigid, vertically opening support bracket.